TY - JOUR

T1 - Marine artificial light at night: An empirical and technical guide

AU - Tidau, Svenja

AU - Smyth, Tim

AU - McKee, D.

AU - Wiedenmann, Jorg

AU - D'Angelo, Cecilia

AU - Wilcockson, David

AU - Ellison, Amy

AU - Grimmer, Andrew

AU - Jenkins, Stuart

AU - Widdicombe, Stephen

AU - de Moura Queiros, Ana

AU - Talbot, Elizabeth

AU - Wright, Adam

AU - Davies, Thomas

N1 - Natural Environment Research Council, Grant/Award Number: NE/S003533/2

PY - 2021/9

Y1 - 2021/9

N2 - 1. The increasing illumination of our world by artificial light at night (ALAN) has created a new field of global change research with impacts now being demonstrated across taxa, biological ranks and spatial scales. Following advances in terrestrial ecology, marine ALAN has become a rapidly growing research area attracting scientists from across all biomes. Limitations in technology, complexities of researching many coastal and marine ecosystems, and the interdisciplinary nature of ALAN research present numerous challenges.2. Drawing on expertise from optical oceanographers, modellers, community ecologists, experimental and molecular biologists, we share practical advice and solutions that have proven useful for marine ALAN research. Discussing lessons learnt early on can help in the effective and efficient development of a field.3. The guide follows a sensory ecology approach to marine light pollution and consolidates physics, ecology and biology. First, we introduce marine lightscapes highlighting how these differ from terrestrial ones and provide an overview of biological adaptations to them. Second, we discuss study design and technology to best quantify ALAN exposure of and impacts on marine and coastal organisms including molecular tools and approaches to scale-up marine ALAN research.4. We conclude that the growing field of marine ALAN research presents opportunities not only for improving our understanding of this globally widespread stressor, but also for advancing fundamental marine photobiology, chronobiology, and night-time ecology. Interdisciplinary research will be essential to gain insights into natural marine lightscapes shaping the ecology and evolution coastal and marine ecosystems.

AB - 1. The increasing illumination of our world by artificial light at night (ALAN) has created a new field of global change research with impacts now being demonstrated across taxa, biological ranks and spatial scales. Following advances in terrestrial ecology, marine ALAN has become a rapidly growing research area attracting scientists from across all biomes. Limitations in technology, complexities of researching many coastal and marine ecosystems, and the interdisciplinary nature of ALAN research present numerous challenges.2. Drawing on expertise from optical oceanographers, modellers, community ecologists, experimental and molecular biologists, we share practical advice and solutions that have proven useful for marine ALAN research. Discussing lessons learnt early on can help in the effective and efficient development of a field.3. The guide follows a sensory ecology approach to marine light pollution and consolidates physics, ecology and biology. First, we introduce marine lightscapes highlighting how these differ from terrestrial ones and provide an overview of biological adaptations to them. Second, we discuss study design and technology to best quantify ALAN exposure of and impacts on marine and coastal organisms including molecular tools and approaches to scale-up marine ALAN research.4. We conclude that the growing field of marine ALAN research presents opportunities not only for improving our understanding of this globally widespread stressor, but also for advancing fundamental marine photobiology, chronobiology, and night-time ecology. Interdisciplinary research will be essential to gain insights into natural marine lightscapes shaping the ecology and evolution coastal and marine ecosystems.

KW - Artificial light at night

KW - coastal ecosystems

KW - light pollution

KW - marine ecology

KW - night-time ecology

KW - nocturnality

KW - photobiology

KW - underwater lightscapes

U2 - 10.1111/2041-210X.13653

DO - 10.1111/2041-210X.13653

M3 - Article

VL - 12

SP - 1588

EP - 1601

JO - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2041-210X

IS - 9

ER -